I found this little picture on my hard drive today, and I don’t think I ever posted it anywhere. So here it is!

“What is your opinion on completing professional illustrations on the iPad? I’m dying to be more mobile and efficient with my digital illustrations and would love a new method. I’m currently using a Cintiq which I love and will continue to use, but I need something more mobile for smaller projects. What are your thoughts?”

Continue reading: Professional Quality Artwork and the iPad

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• iPad Art

This is kinda a shameless plug, but also a very good tip for all you freelancers and working artists out there.

I signed up for Dropbox a couple years ago, and it is one of the BEST investments I have ever made. If you are unfamiliar with it, Dropbox is an online storage and syncing service. You set up a folder on your computer, and everything you save to it gets automatically synced to the site. If you have it installed on multiple computers, the files will also sync to each device.

I cannot emphasize enough how useful this has been for my illustration business. I didn’t really understand it at first, but I signed up because I heard good things about it. It wasn’t long before I had upgraded to a pro 50 GB account. Just recently I upgraded again to the max 100 GB because I was using it soo much.

I use my Dropbox folder to sync all my current projects, and archive my most precious artwork. As soon as I save a file on my main computer, it gets uploaded online and to my secondary computer. If I want to take a break from my desk and work on an illustration on my modbook, I don’t have to think about it – the most current version is already ready and waiting. I don’t have to worry about moving files, finding a thumb drive, or keeping recent versions synced across both my computers. It’s just there, everywhere. I also have the app for my iPhone and iPad, which is handy for quickly viewing files or emailing them to a client.

Dropbox is also integrated into a lot of third-party apps and services. Lots of iPad apps, for example, use it as a file management system. It is my favorite way to move my iPad sketches to my computer.

And on top of it all, Dropbox is a great backup system. Dropbox keeps files safe online, and also saves several versions of each file. Dropbox has saved my behind on numerous occasions where I have accidentally saved over the wrong file or deleted something I shouldn’t have. For that alone, it has been worth it’s weight in gold for me.

I apologize if this sounds like a huge sales pitch, but there is genuine love behind every word.

Dropbox recently announced that they are giving away more free space for referrals, and I am not ashamed to admit that it is partially the reason I was driven to write this post. I have been eating my Dropbox space like a maniac – I want free space!

If you decide to give Dropbox a try and want to help me out too, please click here to sign up. If you use this link, both you AND I get some free space (1 GB for me, 500 MB for you). A 2 GB account is free. If you decide to get a pro account, I can personally attest that it is worth every penny.

Sign up here.

I was playing in Brushes on my iPad and made a little illustration of this mouse dude sitting on a flower. Happy Spring!

Here is a time-lapse video too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uohRqmn_Zk

And a reminder to my fellow iPad artists – I am looking for art to feature in my next project. See details here.

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I am currently involved in a book about art on the iPad. I can’t say much about it yet, but part of the book will be a gallery of images. I am looking for artists who draw on the iPad who would like to have their work featured in this section.

Here are all the details and instructions:

• Any subject matter, genre, or style is welcome. In fact, the more variety the better.
• This is not a paying gig. I want to be clear that this is strictly on volunteer basis. If you’re not willing to do that, that’s fine. I also don’t expect anyone to spend hours creating brand new artwork for this. Only submit if you happen to have something already made and would enjoy seeing it printed in a book.
• All artists chosen to be featured will receive a free copy of the book.
• Artists retain all copyright to their images, and this is non-exclusive. The publisher and I are only asking for rights to print the images in all versions of the book.
• All artists will be credited with name and website.

To submit:

• Please send entries to dani@danijones.com with the subject IPAD ART SUBMISSION.
• Please send it in full resolution (I know iPad art is typically low-res – just send the best you have). If it is vector art, please send the vector file. If you have multiple images or the file is too large to email, you can send a link.
• Include:
  1) Your name (However you want to be credited. Real names please.)
  2) Your website link, if you have one
  3) Your iPad model (1, 2, or new)
  4) What app you used

**Update**: To answer some common questions,

• Yes, you can send multiple submissions. Send as many as you want.
• No, please don’t submit artwork created on other tablets such as Android, Wacom, etc. This is iPad-specific.
• You may send sketches (it doesn’t have to be finished artwork). However, I’m not taking art that was started on the iPad, then finished on your desktop computer. It must be all-iPad.

All submissions must be received by APRIL 4 APRIL 9!

If your art is selected, you will be notified and given further instructions.

Can’t wait to share more info further down the pipeline. Thanks in advance to everyone who can help me out!

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• Springish iPad Painting
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Womanthology, a HUGE anthology of comics written, drawn, and edited all by women, is going to be available very soon. I believe it will be in comic shops starting today and it is also up for order on Amazon.com. All proceeds from this book go to charity.

I received my copy in the mail yesterday. It is one ginormous book, and it is filled to the brim with comics, artwork, industry tips, and interviews.

I illustrated a four-page story for the book. It is called “Swimming” by Ashley Avard. It starts on page 180. I was really happy that I got to illustrate such a sweet and poignant story.

Continue reading: Womanthology Book Release

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Happy Valentine’s week! Download and print Mr. Zombie Bunny to give to your beloved walking dead this holiday.

And if you haven’t read my Zombie Bunny comic yet, check it out here: http://danidraws.com/zombie-bunny

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So here it is, a day late. Forgive the messiness – these are very very quick sketches and I did minimal cleanup and editing.

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When I’m not busy making children’s books or comics, I like to make sketch cards for fun, often featuring geeky fan art of my favorite TV or movie characters. (You can check out previous cards I’ve made here, here, and here.) I recently made a set of six cards featuring the gang of kids from the movie Super 8, which was my favorite movie of 2011 (probably one of my favorite movies ever actually). Anyway, I thought this would be a good opportunity to show a little process stuff.

Continue reading: Super 8 Sketch Card Process

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Apple released a new piece of software called iBooks Author. It is for making digital, interactive books for the iPad and is available as a free download. I recently gave it a test run, and was pleased with the results. Here’s my overall impressions and thoughts, and a free download of my first ever iBooks book!

Continue reading: iBooks Author: First Impressions and Making a Comic

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